Today, the entire Miller team was together for the first time in a while.
Caleb told them everything that had happened with Aiden during the festival.
Ethan, visibly distressed, said, "Now what new trouble is this, guys? I'm still trying to make you all understand, don't get involved in all this. We can't do anything to those mafias, no matter how much we want to! They have power, people, money, weapons, and we have none of those four things! Sometimes, it feels like we're a bunch of kids playing gang!"
Caleb glared at him.
"No need to glare. I'm not saying anything wrong. What do we have? No money, no people. My and Aiden's salaries pay for all of us. As for you, Caleb, you change companies every day, and Sam here has been auditioning for two years and still nothing. And Victor, his business is in ruins; he doesn't get a single case. And Zack, he's just a student; we can't expect anything from him!"
"Look, I have my own life. I don't want to be bothered anymore by this 'Mission Mafia Banish' of yours. It would be better if you all gave it up and focused on your careers. I can't support you all my life!"
Instead of getting upset, everyone burst out laughing at Ethan's words.
Seeing this, Ethan got annoyed and angrily threw a pillow at them. "What kind of bastards are you all? Don't you have any self-respect? I said so much, and it had no effect on any of you?"
Leo put a hand on his shoulder. "Nice acting, dude. You should be an actor instead of Sam!"
Hearing this, Ethan flinched. He immediately shook Leo's hand off. "What nonsense?! Did I say anything false?!"
Leo laughed. "When did I say you lied?! I only said you're a good actor!"
Hearing this, Ethan looked around, realizing he had unintentionally revealed the truth himself.
Caleb walked over to Ethan, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Ethan, we all know what you said was a lie. I know you're worried about us, that's why you're saying all this."
"If you know, then why don't you just give all this up, Caleb? I'm an orphan; I never even got to see my parents' faces! I only have you all as family. I don't want to lose you. I'm not worried about myself; I'm worried about you. If anything happens to any of you, I'll die!" As he spoke, Ethan's eyes welled up. Seeing him so emotional, everyone came and hugged him.
After a moment, they pulled away.
Leo pinched his cheek. "Doctor, why are you so scared? Even if we die, we'll come back as ghosts and haunt your life. We'll never leave you alone. Even if you want us to, we won't leave you!"
Ethan smiled. "Okay, okay, that's enough. I'm convinced!"
"Of course you are. We can make even a dead person agree to our terms; you're still human," Victor said with a laugh.
Ethan glared at him. "Besides lawyering, you can do everything else. Why don't you win a case or two and bring some fame to our name?"
Victor made a face. "Yeah, yeah, one day I'll win a case."
Everyone laughed at his words. Aiden chuckled. "Idiot, at least dream big. You're talking about winning only one case even in your dreams. At least in your dreams, be a good lawyer!"
Sam laughed. "Aiden's right. Poor guy, he dreams according to his capabilities. He knows well he can't do anything."
Victor angrily kicked Sam in the butt. Sam was standing directly in front of Zack, and Victor's kick made Sam fall onto Zack. Accidentally, Sam's hands caught Zack's pajamas, making them slide down.
Everyone burst into uproarious laughter at the sight.
Poor Zack was mortified. He covered his face with both hands in shame.
His reaction made everyone laugh even harder.
Caleb pulled his hands away. "Relax, Panda, nothing happened. It's just your pajamas that fell. There would be a commotion if your underwear came off!" With that, Caleb burst into laughter.
Their laughter annoyed Zack. Annoyed, he walked away.
Everyone tried to stop him, but he didn't.
Leo said, "Looks like Panda is really angry."
Aiden said, "He'll be back in two minutes."
Sam laughed. "Two minutes? Look, he's back in fifteen seconds!"
Zack looked at them all. Then he pulled a cigarette packet from his pocket.
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the cigarette packet in his hand.
Caleb said with slight anger, "Zack, what is this? You started smoking so early? This is wrong. Smoking is not good. It's poison; it eats away at your whole body from the inside."
Hearing his words, Aiden and everyone else found it hilarious. The person who couldn't go a day without a cigarette was talking about its harms.
"Throw it away right now! This is a bad thing!"
Zack narrowed his eyes. "Oh, if it's so bad, then what was it doing in your pant pocket?!"
Hearing this, Caleb flinched. "What? You found this in my pants? How can that be? How did it get into my pants?!"
"So, you're saying it's not yours?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying!" Caleb didn't want Zack to know anything about this. Zack was a very volatile type; he would go straight and tell Caleb's mother and uncle, and once they found out, Caleb's doom was sealed for today. That's why Caleb kept everything hidden from him.
"Okay, if it's not yours, I'll throw it in the trash." Zack was heading towards the trash when Caleb suddenly shouted, "No!" Caleb quickly went to him and snatched the packet from his hand. "What are you doing, Panda? Do you know how expensive this is? I ordered it from Spain, after a lot of trouble!"
Hearing this, Zack's eyebrows shot up.
Caleb had blurted everything out in the flow, completely unaware that he had just exposed the truth himself.
When Caleb realized, he squeezed his eyes shut.
"You said it wasn't yours?"
"Yes, I said correctly. It's not mine. It's Aiden's!"
Aiden stared at Caleb with wide eyes. "Oh, Caleb, don't dump your mess on me! Zack, it's his!"
Caleb glared at Aiden. "Oh, it's just mine, is it? Fine, then don't come to me looking like a sad sack asking for a cigarette tonight!"
Hearing this, Aiden flinched. "No, no, Zack, it's mine. I put it in Caleb's pocket."
A victorious smile appeared on Caleb's face. That scoundrel, changed sides just for a cigarette!
Aiden felt like tying Caleb's hands and feet and force-feeding him cauliflower (Caleb had a fierce hatred for cauliflower) right then and there. Poor Aiden took all the blame upon himself for the lure of a single cigarette.
Zack glared at him. "Are you sure it's yours?"
Aiden snapped, "Yes, it's mine! Now what, should I get it written in the Guinness World Records?!"
From behind, Sam laughed. "Go ahead and get it written! The first man in the world to take such a huge blame on himself for just one cigarette! I mean, no one could be this shameless. I'm greedy too, but I wouldn't make such a big sacrifice for a single cigarette!"
Aiden retorted, irritated, "You have a lot of rubbish to say, you flop actor! Go improve your acting! You're the most terrible actor in the world! A dead man would crawl out of his grave and turn off the TV just to avoid watching your acting! Oh, wait, my mistake, first you need to actually *get* a film. You've been wandering for two years and haven't even gotten a single role yet!"
"One minute, let me correct you, Mr. Aiden Bannick, I *have* gotten roles!"
"Oh, which role did you get?!"
"Last week's film, *Breath Came, Breath Stopped*, I acted in that."
Victor scratched his head. "Sam, I don't understand. What kind of film is this, *Breath Came, Breath Stopped*?"
"Wait, I'll explain. In this film, there's a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law. The mother-in-law used to trouble the daughter-in-law a lot, so, out of frustration, one night the daughter-in-law mixed poison in a dessert and gave it to the mother-in-law, which caused her death!"
"Wait, but why did the daughter-in-law mix poison in a dessert? I mean, she could have mixed poison in something else. Why just a dessert?" Victor asked.
"The mother-in-law loved that dessert, so the daughter-in-law thought she would give her death by feeding her favorite thing!"
"Wow, what a good daughter-in-law! How much she thinks about her mother-in-law!"
Leo glared at him. "Victor, that's why you haven't won a single case to this day, you idiot! If she thought so well of her mother-in-law, why did she kill her?!"
Victor slapped his forehead. "Oh, yeah, I forgot that!"
"Victor, don't you forget too much? I mean, one day you even forgot who you were fighting the case for and started supporting the opposite side!"
Hearing this, Victor flinched. To shift attention from himself, Victor said, "Sam, you didn't tell us what happened next?"
"Oh, so the mother-in-law dies. The daughter-in-law thought she would have a grand time and rule the entire house alone, but a few hours later, her mother-in-law returns as a ghost and starts troubling her again... Poor daughter-in-law couldn't even celebrate for a single day!"
Aiden said, "That's all well and good, but now please do us the honor of telling us what role you got in the film?"
Sam was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "The mother-in-law's! I played the role of the mother-in-law."
Hearing his words, a sudden silence fell over the room, but then booming laughter echoed all around. Everyone held their stomachs, laughing.
Aiden and Caleb were at the forefront of the laughter. Aiden, barely controlling his mirth, said, "You got the role of the mother-in-law? Tell me, who cast you for that role? I need to go touch their feet. Someone truly said, 'Only a jeweler can recognize a diamond.' I mean, how well they recognized you, they gave you a role that truly suits your personality!"
"By the way, where can I find this film? I want to see it!"
"Nowhere!"
"Nowhere, meaning?"
"The film was never released!"
Hearing this, Aiden burst into loud laughter again. "Sam, you're truly bad luck! You ruined the entire film!"
Sam's anger flared at Aiden. He took off his slipper and ran towards Aiden with it. Aiden ran swiftly forward to escape being hit.
"Stop, Aiden, you bastard! Your tongue is wagging too much today. I'll fix you right now! Why are you running?"
Aiden shouted back as he ran, "Why shouldn't I run? Should I stand there and take a beating from your slipper?! And what are you all just standing there watching? Someone stop him!"
Everyone raised their hands. "It's your personal matter, you sort it out!"
Aiden glared at them angrily. "Wow, guys, wow! When it comes to eating, nothing's personal, but when it comes to getting beaten, suddenly everything becomes personal! You're all such scoundrels! I'll arrest each and every one of you and throw you in jail!"
Sam, still running, yelled back, "Yeah, you'll arrest us and throw us in jail because you don't have the guts to catch anyone else! You've been playing 'house' with Jax Alfonzo for a year! That man slaps you in the face every third day… by getting out!"